12 December 2017

HelpDesk for Outlook and SharePoint – Soon Without Outlook!

One of our current development projects is a new edition of HelpDesk OSP, the kalmstrom.com product that converts e-mails into SharePoint list items. The current edition is an Outlook add-in, but the upcoming edition will run on a server and not require Outlook at all.

Convert e-mails into SharePoint ticketsMany organizations need to convert e-mails into SharePoint list items. It might be support e-mails or different kinds of information that need to be published to SharePoint, so that it can be shared and stored in a better way than in Outlook folders.

For nearly ten years, our client-side edition of HelpDesk OSP has handled this e-mail conversion very well – and still does. We have long-time and satisfied subscribers all over the world.

Outlook add-in
The current HelpDesk OSP requires that Microsoft Outlook is installed on each computer from where e-mails should be published to SharePoint. That works without problems in most situations, but it requires a bit of management with upgrades, license checks etc. This is one of the reasons that we now want to create a server edition.

Outlook must be running to convertHelpDesk OSP has a setting that automatically converts incoming e-mails into SharePoint list items, but if Outlook is not running, no conversion takes place. Some organizations solve this by leaving an instance of Outlook where HelpDesk OSP is installed running all the time – maybe on a server with Outlook installed, like we have done.

Unfortunately, it happens that Outlook crashes when it is left running for weeks and even months. In short, Outlook is not built as a server-application. This is another reason for developing a server edition that not requires Outlook.

Run on server instead!For organizations who want e-mails to be converted automatically 24/7, we will soon release a new edition of HelpDesk OSP that is optimized for running on a server.

With this new edition, users don't have to install neither Outlook nor HelpDesk OSP, and no user will be required to be signed in to the computer where the HelpDesk OSP server is running. As long as the server is running, HelpDesk OSP will keep converting incoming e-mails into SharePoint tickets.

The development of the HelpDesk OSP server edition is going well, and I hope to come back soon and tell you more!
Peter Kalmström
CEO and Systems Designerkalmstrom.com Business Solutions